Bruce E. Wampold

Research in Counseling Psychology: Prospects and Recommendations

This report presents a summary of the conclusions and recommendations of the Research Group at the Third National Conference for Counseling Psychology. The report is organized into five topics, as were discussed during the conference. These topics are (a) definition and image, (b) methodological diversity in counseling research, (c) multi- and cross-cultural issues, (d) the connection of research to practice, and (e) research training. Fifteen general recommendations are offered to the specialty regarding research in counseling psychology.

Relationship of Power and Involvement to Working Alliance: A Multiple-Case Sequential Analysis of Brief Therapy.

Sequential analysis was used to examine within-session interactional behavior in four brieftherapy cases. Two cases were characterized by high alliance and two by low alliance. Message units were coded along the dimensions of power and involvement. In all cases, there was a general pattern of high power for the therapists and low power for the clients

A Proposal to Integrate Science and Practice in Counseling Psychology

Science and practice cannot continue together without a major attitudinal shiA a broadening perspective of science and practice and how these two activities can be integrated to strengthen each other. This article represents the culmination of a 2-year project that examined the roles of science and practice within counseling psychology. The central goal of the article is to present (a) specific recommendations for promoting the integration of science and practice within Division 17 and (b) suggest specific strategies for implementing the recommendations.

Toward Quality Research in Counseling Psychology: Curricular Recommendations for Design and Analysis

The purpose of this article is to propose competencies that are necessary to conduct research in counseling psychology and to propose curricular modifications that will aid the acquisition of those competencies. To understand better the present status of research training in counseling psychology, programs approved by the American Psychological Association were surveyed to assess the research design and analysis curriculum of those programs, research articles in the Journal of Counseling Psychology were examined to determine the types of analyses commonly used, and the literature discussing research training in counseling psychology was reviewed. Generally, it was found that many students are not well trained in procedures that are commonly used in counseling psychology research and that the present level of training attenuates the quality of research in counseling psychology. To obtain the research competencies necessary to conduct quality research, a curriculum containing didactic and experiential components is recommended.

Kappa as a measure of pattern in sequential data

The kappa statistic is suggested as a means to index the degree to which particular patterns occur in social interaction. It is suggested that the value of the kappa statistic for each interaction be used as a dependent measure. Particular formulas for kappa are derived for undirectional dependence, bidirectional dependence, other additive patterns, and for dominance.